TranslateIt! Foreign Language Dictionaries
File this one under, tons of potential but not there yet. TranslateIt! is an interesting foreign language dictionary application from what appears to be a Russian software company. The application comes in two versions, one shareware and the other free, but it is only the shareware version that does the cool trickery you see above. It can be set to "scan" the text under your cursor and pop up a floating window with a dictionary entry for that word (this is somewhat similar to the built-in OS X dictionary's shortcut: ??? + ??? + D, but TranslateIt! does not require any shortcut -- you merely need to hover over the text). Unfortunately, the free version lacks the "scanning" and only allows you to type terms into its search box (similar to Dictionary.app). Both versions are plagued by very bad decisions on user interface design, including gratuitous use of the cube and flip transformation effects.
Of course the strength of any dictionary program lies in the quality of its dictionaries and it's here that TranslateIt! falls flat. It includes several simple dictionaries built in (e.g. English-French, English-Russian, etc.) and there are more available for download, but in playing with it I found the entries to be much too basic for serious use. There are links to open-source dictionaries, but no instructions as to how to use them.
The other problem with TranslateIt! is the cost. While there is the freeware version, to get the cool scanning costs $24.95 per year or $64.95 for a lifetime subscription. For those kinds of prices, the dictionary content would have to be much better than it is. When I saw this I was very excited, because something like this could make reading sites in languages I sort of know, but not well, much more convenient. As it is, however, I can't really give it my full recommendation at this price. There is a demo available for download to check it out for yourself, and the freeware version is probably worth a look as a simple foreign language dictionary.
[Via FreeMacWare]
